CARROLLTON — The first road game of the
season for the Denton Broncos told a much different story than the Broncos’
30-14 loss to Dallas Bishop Lynch at home as the Broncos earned a convincing 35-6
victory over the Carrollton R.L. Turner Lions on Thursday at Standridge
Stadium.

In Kevin Atkinson’s first win as Denton
head coach, junior quarterback Cy Ward showed he can excel in Atkinson’s
version of the spread offense as he led the Broncos’ potent offense with five
touchdowns on 351 yards passing.

“I thought he did really well,” Atkinson
said. “He’s been putting in extra time in the film room and eating lunch with
me so I can drill him and pick his brain. He’s been working through his reads
in his mind and I’m glad for him to get some fruits of his labor, but I want to
find things to work on.”

The junior wide receiver trio of Ke’Von
Burris, Deandre Coleman and Adarian Harris combined for all five of the
touchdowns and 272 total yards compared to just 104 total yards in their loss
to Bishop Lynch.

“We have got a pretty deep receiving
core when it comes to talent,” Atkinson said. “Now, numbers-wise, we aren’t
really deep. We’ve got a few guys, but they all play really well. They’ve got to
do a great job of being selfless and making sure we are spreading the ball
around because if you have a lot of people, then they can’t just take away
somebody.”

Despite the Broncos (1-1) earning their
first win of the season, they did turn the ball over three times and amassed 17
penalties for a total of 159 yards.

“Getting our first win was really nice,
but I was really, really happy for our kids because it’s been a long time since
they’ve tasted victory,” Atkinson said. “Part of me is like, hey, we won, but
we made a lot of mistakes that we need to clean up on special teams, taking
care of the ball and foolish penalties. It’s just not being disciplined and a
lot of it is youth. That’s what we have to correct.”

After each team traded fumbles in the
early stages of the first quarter, the Broncos struck first with a massive
82-yard touchdown down the middle of the Lion defense from Ward to Burris.

Ward again found Burris nine seconds
into the second quarter with a 31-yard, high-arching, fading touchdown throw as
he crossed the goal line to give the Broncos a 14-0 lead.

Off to their second consecutive strong
start to a football game, the Broncos fell victim to another special team’s
mental lapse as the Lions blocked a Denton punt and recovered it for a
touchdown with 4:13 left in the first half to bring R.L. Turner (0-1) to within
14-6.

The Broncos defense wouldn’t allow
another point as the team added two more touchdowns before the half.

“I felt pretty good,” Ward said. “I felt
the line was doing good things. They gave us the early edge to block and picked
up guys so I could make decisions. We came out a little rusty in the second
half, but we stretched it out at the end. All the receivers ran good routes and
they all played hard. We got this one down, now we have to get another one.”

Coleman was Ward’s preferred target late
in the first half as he found him for a 15-yard touchdown to put the Broncos
ahead 21-6 with 1:50 remaining. The Broncos defense then forced R.L. Turner
quarterback Saul Aguirre into an interception, which they capitalized on two
plays later with a 34-yard touchdown from Ward to Coleman.

“You have to be excited, but at the same time
it makes you more hungry and see the possibilities of what we can become. One
side I’m really happy, on the other side I’m concerned and want to correct our
mistakes. That’s the first step you take in many of becoming a championship
program.”

After yielding 278 rushing yards to
Bishop Lynch in their first game, the Broncos’ defense held the Lions to just
two first-half first downs with just 30 yards on the ground. The Lions ran
several misdirection run plays throughout the game that required the Bronco
defense to stay with their assignments.

“Our defensive front and linebackers did
an outstanding job of really playing assignment football,” Atkinson said. “When
you play a team like they are, you have to play assignment football. You can’t
just go to the ball. Our word of the week was focus. You see a little, you see
a lot. You see a lot, you see nothing. When we tell our kids about seeing a
little, worry about what you have to do, not about the big picture.”

The Lions struggled to hang onto the
ball, fumbling three times in the second half for a total of eight and were
unable to sustain any second-half offensive drives. Ward found Harris for a
10-yard touchdown with 4:43 left in the game to salt away the victory.

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